Ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday reiterated his desire for the rehabilitation of fighters of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), lamenting that the incumbent government did not provide necessary resources to achieve this goal.
Discussing the resurgence of terrorism during an interview with BBC Urdu, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief claimed this was a result of the incumbent Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government not abiding by commitments his government had made to the militants after the U.S. left Afghanistan in August 2021.
Reiterating that the Afghan Taliban had directed fighters of the TTP in Afghanistan to return to Pakistan after assuming power in Kabul, Khan claimed the country was left with two options: “We could either line up those 40,000 people—including fighters and their families—and shoot them, or we could rehabilitate them.”
Claiming there was political consensus to “rehabilitate” the militants, he regretted that this had not happened. “When the militants came [to Pakistan], they were not rehabilitated or given any proper attention, and no money was spent on them,” he said. “We were afraid that if we did not pay attention to them, then terrorism would start in different places, which has happened,” he added.
Khan’s comments echoed what he had already said during an anti-terror seminar on Jan. 10. During his address, he had claimed his government had wanted to resettle TTP fighters in Pakistan’s tribal districts, but this could not be achieved because the provinces had not provided necessary resources to counter the groups rejecting the merger of the erstwhile tribal areas with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Economic crisis
To a question on the economic crisis, the PTI chief claimed no investor or businessman trusted the incumbent government. “Pakistan has been plunged into a quagmire. To save the country from a Sri Lanka-like situation, we need free and fair elections,” he claimed, adding that prices of commodities were rising due to shipments being stuck at ports, while industries were also shutting down, triggering unemployment.
Maintaining that the economy had been “performing very well” under his government, he questioned why it had been ousted.
Reiterating allegations of the security establishment pressuring members of his party to abandon the PTI, Khan claimed the establishment had told Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi to not dissolve the provincial assembly. However, he asserted, this had been prevented because the PMLQ leader was loyal to the PTI. A potential merger between the PMLQ and PTI, he said, would be the reward for Elahi’s loyalty.
New Army chief
While denying that he had any relationship with Army chief Gen. Asim Munir, Khan also reiterated allegations that ex-Army chief Gen. (retd.) Qamar Javed Bajwa had facilitated the ouster of this government, which he cited as the “root cause” of the prevailing instability. “What Gen. Bajwa did together with them [PDM], even an enemy would not have done to Pakistan,” he claimed.
Accusing the ruling coalition of using its time in government to wrap up corruption cases against its leaders, he said this could only be reversed through fresh elections. Stressing that his party had “sacrificed” the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkwa assemblies for fresh polls, he claimed this would “force” the government to go to elections in April—meaning the National Assembly would need to be dissolved no later than next month.